Cohl countersues Live Nation

March 2011

CONTRACTLive events industry

Promoter Michael Cohl has is countersuing his former employer Live Nation in their dispute over an agreement the two parties signed in 2008 when Cohl quit the live music group. Live Nation sued Cohl late last year claiming he owed them multi-million dollar payments in relation to that agreement saying that Cohl, the then outgoing Chairman, agreed to make sizable payments to Live Nation over a period of years in return for keeping certain assets of CPL, his former company which Live Nation had taken control of in 2006. It seems that these cash payments were conditional on Live Nation giving Cohl permission to continue to work with certain major league artists, something a non-compete clause in his original contract with live music firm would have prevented. Live Nation claimed that Cohl had defaulted on those payments and currently owed the company in the region of $5.5 million. But Cohl has now filed a countersuit in which he reportedly argues that he has stopped making payments to Live Nation because it defaulted on that 2008 agreement with regards the Rolling Stones saying that Live Nation had told Cohl that they would bid for the 2011 Stones Tour and that Cohl was contractually obliged to make a joint bid with Live Nation, and t that he had a duty to share information about his negotiations with the band with his former employer. None of this concurred with his understanding of the 2008 agreement and he also argues that Live Nation’s actions are damaging his personal relationship with the Stones and their management.